241 



a counter-declaration from the king, stating that whosoever 

 should bring in any sums of money or plate to assist him in his 

 great extremity should have security for the same, and he 

 should always look upon it as a service most affectionately and 

 seasonably performed for the preservation of himself and his 

 kingdom. ^ 



The royal declaration, it is said, brought in at this time a 

 great deal of money ;^ yet we find that a few weeks after- 

 wards, the king made a private application for a loan, to the 

 heads of the university of Oxford, and not only was his request 

 promptly complied with,^ but the several colleges of both 

 universities loyally determined to devote their gold and silver 

 plate to the service of their sovereign. On the 12th of July, 

 information having been received in parliament that the plate 

 and treasure of Oxford were ordered by Convocation to be sent 

 to York for the king, the house of commons ordered that all the 

 highways about Oxford should be watched to prevent the imi- 

 versity from thus disposing of their treasures :* and in the 

 ensuing month the commons having had intelligence that 

 Mr. Cromwell had hindered the carrying off plate from the 

 university of Cambridge to the value, as some reported, of 

 £20,000, they made an ordinance for the indemnity of Oliver 

 Cromwell Esquire, and the persons concerned with him therein, 

 and for authorising him and them to make stay of all such 

 plate belonging to the university as should be thereafter en- 

 deavoured to be carried to the king.^ 



In the mean time the king, with the obvious intention of 

 making preparations for having money coined at York from the 

 plate he expected to be supplied with, had despatched orders to 

 London that the necessary means and appliances for the estab- 

 lishment of a mint should be sent to him from the Tower, and it 



' " Published at Hs Court at York the 16th day of June 1642." Husband, p. 351. 



» Ending, Vol. I. p. 397. 



' Extracts from the university and college registers, July 11, 1642. Folkes, p. 86. 



* Commons' Journals, Vol. II. p. 683. 



* Parliamentary History, Vol. XI. p. 388. It was reported to the House on the 

 22nd of August, that the plate of Magdalen CoUege, Cambridge, was stayed as it 

 was going to York. Commons' Journals, Vol. II., p. 730. 



